Publications by authors named "Hitchcock P"

Purpose: The Krd mouse has a deletion in chromosome 19 that includes the Pax2 gene locus. The aim of this study was to characterize in detail how these retinas differ from normal.

Methods: Both electroretinographic and anatomic methods were used to assess visual function.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This paper presents a brief overview of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), in adolescent populations. Using the framework of a mathematical model (which considers how, why, and whether an infection spreads within a population), the epidemic of STDs among adolescent populations is considered. The unique aspects of adolescent behavior, adolescent biology, and the social context of adolescents' lives are highlighted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pax6 is a developmental regulatory gene that plays a key role in the development of the embryonic brain, eye, and retina. This gene is also expressed in discrete groups of neurons within the adult brain. In this study, antibodies raised against a fusion protein from a zebra fish pax6 cDNA were used to investigate the expression of the pax6 gene in the mature, growing, and regenerating retina of the goldfish.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

There are currently 5,000 people in the UK receiving dialysis treatment while they are waiting for a kidney transplant. It is conceivable, therefore, that nurses working in general practice, the community and on general wards will meet such patients. This Unit aims to enable those nurses to gain the skills required to be able to participate in the care of patients with renal impairment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The role of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is reviewed. The rationale for and approach to reducing STD prevalence in high-risk communities are presented. Given the asymptomatic nature of these infections and problems associated with delivering curative therapy, effective interventions will require the use of diagnostic tests for screening and the use of single-dose therapies in appropriate settings: Treatment of individuals with STDs will likely reduce individual risk, while reduction of STD prevalence in high-risk communities may curtail the epidemic spread of HIV.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Proteins of the Maf/Nrl subfamily of bZIP transcription factors are involved in the regulation of tissue-specific gene expression. The Nrl gene, initially identified from a subtracted retinal library, is expressed in all cell layers of the adult retina, including photoreceptors. The Nrl protein has high sequence homology with Maf proteins, binds to an AP-1 like sequence element, and in photoreceptors appears to be involved in regulating the expression of rhodopsin.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sets out to demonstrate the usefulness of vision statements to self-directed work teams, taking ideas from the development of vision within teams in an organization of around 1,000 employees. Considers barriers to the creation of a shared vision in which employees have a stake, putting forward the concept of ¿team-sized vision¿ as a means of coping with the identified problems of ¿size¿ and ¿ownership¿ with regard to organization-sized vision. Outlines various advantages of team-sized vision, e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The adult goldfish retina and optic nerve display continuous growth, plasticity, and the capacity to regenerate throughout the animal's life. The intermediate filament proteins in this pathway are different from those in adult mammalian nerves, which do not continuously grow or normally regenerate. One novel intermediate filament protein of the goldfish visual pathway is plasticin, which is synthesized in ganglion cells and transported into the optic nerve.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose/objectives: To identify strategies for oncology nurses to assist patients with cancer in modifying their smoking behaviors.

Data Sources: Published research articles, conference proceedings, Surgeon General Reports, and book chapters.

Data Synthesis: Cigarette smoking is associated with a variety of cancers, and persistent smoking following a cancer diagnosis contributes to increased morbidity and mortality.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe the cloning and expression pattern of a new paired-class homeobox gene, Vsx-1, in the continuously growing retina of the goldfish. Vsx-1 belongs to a subset of paired-class homeobox genes that lack a second DNA binding domain, the paired-domain, and is closely related to the C. elegans ceh-10 gene.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The semidominant mutation Krd (kidney and retinal defects) was identified in transgenic line Tg8052. Krd/+ mice have a high incidence of kidney defects including aplastic, hypoplastic, and cystic kidneys. Retinal defects in Krd/+ mice include abnormal electroretinograms and a reduction of cell numbers that is most extreme in the inner cell and ganglion layers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

ent-19-Hydroxykaur-16-en-15-one is transformed to ent-3 beta,16 beta,19-trihydroxykauran-15-one by Cephalosporium aphidicola. The structure of this metabolite was established by X-ray crystallography.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the adult goldfish, any manipulation that significantly depletes retinal neurons stimulates neurogenesis and the regeneration of nearly normal retina. We sought to determine the extent to which the regenerated neurons formed normal synaptic connections. We used qualitative and quantitative electron microscopy to compare the organization of the synaptic layers in regenerated and normal retinas.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A fundamental anatomical feature of retinal neurons is that they form planar mosaics. Each mosaic can be described by its density, pattern, and regularity (non-randomness). As part of ongoing studies to quantitatively describe the anatomy of regenerated retina in the goldfish, we determined the planimetric density and regularity of the mosaic of dopaminergic interplexiform cells in patches of regenerated retina and compared this to the mosaic generated de novo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The 3-disc sensitivity method and the PDM Epsilometer (E-Test) were compared against the agar plate dilution reference method for the testing of N. gonorrhoeae penicillin susceptibility. Forty-six clinical isolates and five reference strains were examined.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The goldfish retina grows throughout the animal's life, primarily by a balloon-like expansion. With this expansion, dendritic arbors of ganglion cells show scaled growth; arbors increase in size from small to large with no change in their architecture (Hitchcock & Easter, 1986; Bloomfield & Hitchcock, 1991). The study reported here showed that ganglion cell arbors acquire new synapses with this growth.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Although it has been suggested that hypochondriasis is caused by the misinterpretation of innocuous bodily sensations, support for this hypothesis rests largely upon uncontrolled self-report. We investigated the interpretation of ambiguous bodily sensations in three experiments using separate samples of non-clinical subjects differing in level of hypochondriacal concern. Results confirmed that subjects with high hypochondriacal concern endorse more thoughts about illness interpretations of bodily sensations, but reported thought content resembled 'catastrophic' rather than the 'non-emergency' thoughts suggested by Warwick and Salkovskis (Hypochondriasis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have studied regeneration of the retina in the goldfish as a model of regenerative neurogenesis in the central nervous system. Using a transscleral surgical approach, we excised small patches of retina that were replaced over several weeks by regeneration. Lesioned retinas from three groups of animals were studied to characterize, respectively, the qualitative changes of the retina and surrounding tissues during regeneration, the concomitant cellular proliferation, and the quantitative relationship between regenerated and intact retina.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The goal of research on neural regeneration is to restore brain function following injury. To many, this suggests regrowing damaged axons and re-establishing the interrupted pathways. A second, but little studied aspect of brain regeneration, is the replacement of lost neurons.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examined the effects of minor stress on variations in biochemical indices of dietary compliance in hemodialysis patients. Subjects completed the Schedule of Recent Events, the Weekly Stress Inventory, and the Social Support Questionnaire. In addition, two biochemical measures of dietary compliance were obtained from the patients' medical charts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Shielding the lens of the eye while treating orbital lymphoid tumors and achieving a relatively homogeneous dose can be a dosimetric challenge. There are many clinical cases of tumors close to one or both eyes, where it is desirable to spare the lens as much as possible. We will show isodose curves comparing direct anterior fields using various electron beam energies to a single 6 mv photon beam to a multifield combination.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To learn how lipooligosaccharide (LOS) phase variations affect pathogenesis, we studied two male volunteers who were challenged intraurethrally with Neisseria gonorrhoeae that make a single LOS of 3,600 daltons and sequentially followed LOS expression by gonococci as urethritis developed. LOS variation occurred in vivo. Signs and symptoms of gonorrhea began with the appearance of variants making 4,700-dalton LOS that are immunochemically similar to glycosphingolipids of human hematopoietic cells (Mandrell, R.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF